Bella Mulheron makes another scrub hat for Wellington Hospital staff.
A large number of medical staff in Wellington Hospital are wearing colourful scrub hats made by a hardworking teenager from Kāpiti.
Bella Mulheron, 13, has already made about 70 hats for doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and midwives at Wellington Hospital.
The Kāpiti College student bought a sewing machine, two days before lockdown, with savings from her newspaper round money.
"I have always loved sewing, knitting and making things."
Then lockdown happened and she found herself stuck at home looking for things to do.
Her mother Jo is a midwife who works at the hospital's delivery suite.
"After one shift, she came home from work and her theatre scrub hat was in bits.
"I had an idea to make her a new one.
"A scrub hat is basically a tight hat that they put their hair in.
"I took the original scrub hat and cut it into pieces so I had a template to work with.
"Once I had a template I started hunting around for material.
"When I found some suitable material that I liked I then pinned and tacked it together.
"Once I was happy with the design I sewed it together.
"My mum loved it and suggested that I make some more for the other midwives, doctors, nurses and anaesthetists at work.
"So that's what I did."
Jo sent a message to her Facebook friends asking if anyone had material they could give Bella.
"Suddenly I got heaps of material in our letterbox," Bella said.
"It was really funky fabric."
Bella has spend a lot of time making the hats.
"I usually spend a whole day working on them.
"I keep on doing them when I'm bored."
Every time Jo goes to work she takes Bella's newly made hats to give to staff for free.
Feedback by hospital staff had been extremely positive.
Bella was finding lockdown "different but okay".
"I like being at home and spending time with family but then I miss seeing all my friends."
In Bella's bubble are her parents, two brothers and her grandparents from the United Kingdom.
